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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The extraordinary economic mess Donald Trump is leaving behind for President-elect Joe Biden continues to grow as another 742,000 workers filed for unemployment last week. More than 6.3 million Americans remain without work as outgoing President Trump has effectively given up on containing the pandemic which has now claimed the lives of over 250,000 Americans. Yet Trump, his administration, and his Senate allies would rather deny reality and refuse aid to families in need. They are choosing to undermine national security and public health by withholding critical transition resources from the incoming Biden administration, and choosing to push economic recovery further off by holding up urgently needed relief for struggling workers, states, small businesses — the kind of real relief the U.S. House passed months ago.  

“Over a quarter-million Americans are dead since the start of the pandemic. Jobs keep disappearing by the hundreds of thousands. More and more small businesses say they’re gone for good. Meanwhile, the outgoing Trump administration hasn’t just given up — it’s actively making matters worse,” said Jeremy Funk, spokesman for government watchdog Accountable.US. “There’s no excuse for the Trump administration to continue to recklessly withhold critical government resources needed for the transition process in the middle of a worsening pandemic and recession. Why are Trump’s Senate allies wasting precious time packing the FEC and Fed Board with partisans and right-wing extremists instead of passing a serious aid package? The McConnell Senate enabled the Trump administration’s mismanagement of the health crisis. The least lawmakers can do now is try to help actual people in need.”  

Millions of families can’t afford to wait any longer for help: As Americans have waited for crucial unemployment assistance and small business owners have hoped for new relief funds, the end of 2020 will bring a halt to many programs that have been lifelines for mom-and-pop shops, their workers, and their families throughout the COVID-19 crisis, including last-ditch unemployment insurance funds, the CDC’s eviction moratorium, student loan forbearance, and more.  

Nearly a 100,000 small businesses have closed permanently, and thousands more are barely hanging on. Nearly half of Black-owned small businesses have shuttered for good or are on the brink — and unemployment rate in the Black community stands at 10.8 percent. As many as 54 million people in the U.S. face food insecurity. When the federal eviction moratorium expires on Jan 1st, an estimated $32 billion in back rent will come due and up to 8 million tenants will be at risk of eviction. And nearly 2.2 million women have left the workforce since February.   

While Trump’s Senate allies play politics, it has been…    

  • 237 days since the CARES Act was passed — the last significant comprehensive aid package Congress secured to help the American people through a crisis that is now well past its 7th month of raging through the U.S.  
     
  • 111 days since the CARES Act’s weekly $600 enhanced federal unemployment benefits ran out, leaving many families struggling to make ends meet.  
     
  • 103 days since applications for the Paycheck Protection Program closed, leaving small businesses that were denied from the program to fend for themselves.  
     
  • 43 days until Trump’s eviction moratorium runs out, potentially resulting in thousands of families losing access to stable housing.   

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